“As I listened to the cake ladies tell of their struggles and their joys, I found over and over that it is love, first and foremost, that motivates them, and that love is the one essential ingredient to baking beautiful and delicious cakes.”--Jodi Rhoden

In the south, cake ladies are the ones with the skills and heart to bring a little sweetness to life's big moments--potlucks, christenings, weddings, funerals--and their communities treasure and depend upon them. Modern-day cake lady Jodi Rhoden shines a spotlight on this great tradition with profiles of 15 diverse southeastern women who wear the term with pride. Each profile features a bite of that woman's “life in cake,” and includes luscious photos along with at least one signature cake recipe, from classic Vanilla Almond Pound and Hummingbird cakes to Mississippi Mud Cake and Vegan Red Velvet Cupcakes.

Author Bio

Jodi Rhoden owns Short Street Cakes, a popular bakery specializing in natural, from scratch, traditional Southern cakes. She is a food activist and member of The Southern Foodways Alliance as well as a board member of the Bountiful Cities Project. Jodi is the author of Great Cupcake Makeover, one of 12 booklets in Craft-In (Lark, 2010) and a contributor to The Green Market Baking Book (Sterling, January 2011). She chronicles her life as a baker, mom and foodie at http://shortstreetcakes.blogspot.com. Jodi lives in Asheville, North Carolina.

What Others Are Saying

Named one of Kitchen Daily's Top Five Southern Cookbooks 2011

"A beautiful new book chock-full of cake recipes, Southern charm, and inspiring women.Y’all seriously need to check this out. The photos are beautiful and the recipes look divine. Just thumbing through the pages got me itching to preheat the oven and get baking." - Bake It Pretty"The stories and words of the cake ladies, the photographs of not just delectable desserts, but of the people and places, add a richness and depth not often found in cookbooks." - Craft Gossip